CONDENSED milk, viscous and sweet. Slathered straight out of the can onto a slice of white bread. It's one of my earliest food memories.

It was so fantastic, I always wanted more.

Sometimes it was followed by a gooey, thick spoonful. My throat was raw from the sweetness.

Growing up, despite finding treats like this in the pantry, I was never allowed to drink soft drink or eat "junk food". Yet I also consumed an almost daily glass of Ribena, the blackcurrant drink sold as a "rich source of vitamin C" and, as it turns out, with just as much sugar as a can of Coke.

Milo, the chocolate and malted barley powder with its "six essential vitamins and minerals", was also a regular.

There were Cornflakes for breakfast, perhaps sprinkled with an extra teaspoon of sugar, and Grandma's home baking.

No one ever told me sugar was bad. I simply believed you either had a sweet tooth or you didn't.

In my late teens, I moved overseas and, unchecked in my new-found independence, went into free fall on sugar.

Each day began with a bowl of Crunchy Nut Corn Flakes or, if I was running late, a custard-filled, iced doughnut picked up at the train station on the way to work.

The afternoon slump was satiated by at least one (usually white) chocolate bar.

Reporter Elissa Lawrence never thought twice about the addictive quality of sugar as a child.Source: News Limited

I was never overweight, so what was the problem? But it got to the point where I was unable to walk past a shop without an overwhelming desire to buy chocolate.

For most of my life, I have had a craving for sugar and for most of my life I have indulged it.

But somewhere along the line, I got tired.

Not just tired from lack of sleep but tired in such a way that I felt physically unable to keep my eyes open by midafternoon.

Sometimes, the urge to close my eyes made me feel unsafe driving to pick up my children from primary school.

I figured out that my "tired attacks" happened soon after giving into a big midafternoon mug of Milo, and I began to suspect I was on some kind of wild ride of blood-sugar highs and lows. The possibility of diabetes panicked me enough to go to the GP. Tests revealed nothing.

The doctor advised me to get more sleep. Instinctively, however, I knew something wasn't quite right.

SUGAR has had its fair share of bad publicity of late.

It's been the subject of best-selling books, research, TV programs, talkback radio, blogs and general comment.

There is a growing chorus calling for a diet with no added sugar, with titles such as Sweet Poison: Why sugar makes us fat, Fat Chance: the bitter truth about sugar and I Quit Sugar walking off the shelves in bookstores.

Latest figures from the National Heart Foundation show one in four adult Australians is obese. The proportion of obese Australians in 2012 had increased by 51 per cent since 1995. And that may only get worse, since an OECD report predicts there will be a continued increases in overweight and obesity levels across all age groups in Australia, to around 66 per cent of the population by 2020.

Sugar has been the subject of many best-selling books.Source: Supplied

A consensus is emerging in the scientific and medical communities that the anti-fat message we've been fed for decades - that saturated fat is the enemy - has overshadowed the harm sugar may be causing.

This year, Australian dietary guidelines were amended to include an edict to "limit intake" of added sugars, a stronger version of the previous advice to consume "only moderate amounts".

Three of Australia's leading health groups - Diabetes Australia, the Heart Foundation and Cancer Council - also teamed up in January this year to launch a "Rethink Sugary Drink" campaign.

This month they released a graphic ad showing a man drinking a glass of liquid fat to illustrate just how unhealthy a can of fizzy drink can be with its average 10 teaspoons of sugar, and all three organisations endorse the idea of a Federal Government tax on sugar-sweetened beverages.

Queensland's chief health officer, Dr Jeannette Young, last year called for a ban on children drinking soft drink and fruit juice, while in Tasmania, orthopedic surgeon Dr Gary Fettke is campaigning to get sugary foods out of hospitals and has set up an anti-sugar website.

The World Health Organisation is reviewing current sugar recommendations.Source: ThinkStock

Internationally, the World Health Organisation is reviewing its current recommendation that sugar should not account for more than 10 per cent of the calories in our diet.

Last month, in the Netherlands, the head of Amsterdam's health service, Paul van der Velpen, radically suggested that soft drinks should carry tobacco-style warnings because sugar is "dangerous" and "addictive". This in a country where cannabis can be legally sold.

American pediatric endocrinologist Dr Robert Lustig is one of the world's most vocal anti-sugar campaigners.

The author of Fat Chance describes the modern level of sugar consumption as a "public health crisis".

Lustig believes 75 per cent of diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension and heart disease are preventable because they are linked to sugar consumption.

Describing sugar as "toxic" and "poison", he puts it in the same "wastebasket" as tobacco and alcohol.

The idea that sugar might not be good for us was first raised in the 1970s, with the publication of British physiologist and scientist John Yudkin's book Pure, White and Deadly (a new edition of which was released last year).

Yudkin's theory linked heart disease to sugar consumption but was largely dismissed as the anti-fat message took hold.

Australian nutritionist Rosemary Stanton says the demonising of fat allowed sugar to go largely unchecked. Nutritional advice to eat less saturated fat led manufacturers to create a number of dairy and other products that were low in fat.

People often don’t understand how much sugar they’re actually consuming. Picture: ThinkstockSource: ThinkStock

Without fat, however, taste and texture were compromised so sugar was added instead.

The result was products such as small tubs of low-fat yoghurt containing up to six teaspoons of sugar.

Stanton says there is no official recommendation in Australia on the safe amount of added sugar because no study has established how much sugar we actually consume.

However, she believes sugar intake is higher than it's ever been, and probably similar to that in the US.

The American Heart Association states the usual intake of added sugar for Americans is 22 teaspoons per day, or 355 calories.

It recommends reductions in the intake of added sugars with a limit of no more than 100 calories for women (about six teaspoons) and 150 calories (eight teaspoons) for men.

"We don't need any sugar at all," Stanton says.

"Sugar is certainly extremely habit-forming and people have no idea how much they are consuming. It's not just in the biscuits, cakes, soft drinks, chocolates and lollies. It's also in pasta sauces, tomato sauce, packet soups and baby foods - in things we wouldn't expect.

Labels can often mislead people into thinking what they’re eating is healthy.Source: ThinkStock

"Typical breakfast cereals, including ones with a Heart Foundation tick, have 30 per cent sugar or higher. If you filled a third of your bowl with sugar, no parent would permit that, but when it's already part of the cereal it's hidden."

AUSTRALIAN media personality Sarah Wilson - a former MasterChef Australia series host - is riding the wave of anti-sugar sentiment.

She has sold more than 200,000 copies of her ebook and its print edition I Quit Sugar, and her iquitsugar.com website registers more than one million page views per month.

The juggernaut is about to grow in the shape of a freshly signed deal with publishing giant Penguin Random House for a US release of her book next April.

"I support balance but when it comes to sugar it's kind of the exception to the rule because it is highly addictive," she says.

"We can eat lots of things in moderation but with sugar, most people find it really difficult. We can't just eat one Tim Tam and leave the rest of the packet, and that's the problem.

There are no “good” and “bad” sugars according to experts. Picture: Chris PavlichSource: News Limited

"Today, (almost) everything has sugar in it - 80 per cent of food in the supermarket contains sugar. Sugar is disguised in all sorts of ways. A 375ml glass of apple juice has 10 teaspoons of sugar, the same as a can of Coke.

"A muesli bar can have more sugar than a block of chocolate, bottled barbecue sauce more than chocolate topping. You try to do the right thing only to find low-fat yoghurt contains more sugar than ice-cream."

Sugar can be confusing, so here are the basics.

Sugar, or sucrose, is a simple carbohydrate that is half fructose, half glucose. Every cell in our bodies needs glucose as fuel.

However, there is no need for fructose. Often called fruit sugar, fructose is found in all sugars and particularly in high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), a cheap sugar made from America's surplus maize, and in fruit.

While it is better to consume whole fruit with fibre, such as the skin, than without, juicing fruit is problematic because it allows a high volume of fructose to be easily and quickly consumed.

Drinks thought of as "healthy", such as 100 per cent fruit juice or fruit smoothies, may be higher in sugar than soft drink.

Eating sugar from a young age can create a pattern of addiction.Source: ThinkStock

There are no "good" sugars or "bad" sugars. It makes little difference if it is white, raw, brown or caster sugar, honey, agave, maple syrup or HFCS.

The chemical composition of sugar remains the same. Sugar is sugar.

"The evidence is strongest that the sugar in drinks is the biggest problem of all," Stanton says. "The body doesn't seem to recognise liquid calories, which means you can consume a lot of it but it doesn't fill you up."

The 2007 Australian National Children's Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey found 47 per cent of children (2-16 years old) consumed sugar-sweetened beverages, including energy drinks,

"We're not of the opinion that there's any one bad food or drink," Parker says.

"There's this single, narrow demonisation of sugar that doesn't do anyone any good. It's ignoring the concept of the total diet.

"All kilojoules count, regardless of where they come from. It's about moderation. Statistics show full-kilojoule soft drinks are declining at a rapid rate and have been for the past 15 years, but obesity continues to climb."

Frozen Yogurt has a high sugar content. Picture: ThinkstockSource: Supplied

Parker says that between 1997 and 2011, the industry recorded an 18 per cent decline in consumption of carbonated soft drinks driven by the decline in sugar-sweetened soft drinks.

Still, he adds, Australians consume about 107 litres of soft drink and 23 litres of fruit juice per person per annum.

WHILE sugar is yet to be formally recognised as an addictive substance, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans have shown consumption of sugar triggers the same reward centres in the brain as nicotine, alcohol or cocaine.

Sydney-based consultant dietitian and former research scientist Dr Naras Lapsys believes it will not be long before the term "sugarholics" is scientifically recognised.

Lapsys worked for 10 years at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research looking for the genes linked to obesity. He says humans are "hardwired" to like sugar.

"I am absolutely certain that I see clients on a weekly basis who are addicted to sugar," he says. "It's an indulgent behaviour, often done alone and they have feelings of a lack of control. If it's not an addiction, what else could it possibly be?

"For some people, taking an approach of abstinence - an all-or-nothing approach - might be the only way (to control it)"

"No public health professional would be satisfied with today's levels of metabolic disease. We need to do more," Cowley says.

"We haven't paid enough attention to the importance of simple carbohydrates, including sugar, in our diet and they can have strong negative effects. Our bodies have no off-switch with sugar, and we have the capacity to consume a lot of it.

"There's no need for any sugar in your diet, and no good reason for eating it other than you like it. For too long we've given sugar a free pass."

MY sugar habit took hold long before I was prepared to address it. For the best part of four decades, sugar was a relentless emotional crutch.

For some years, I consumed what most Australians would consider a healthy diet - no obvious junk food, no soft drink, no added sugar in tea or coffee, mostly home-cooked meals.

I had long given up the doughnuts and chocolate bars.

Are you consuming sugar by stealth?Source: ThinkStock

But I was consuming sugar by stealth.

I'd have honey on toast, cereal, yoghurt sweetened with fruit juice, a daily (usually home-baked) treat such as a muffin, a few squares of chocolate with a cup of tea at night, as well as three pieces of fruit a day and often dried fruit, too.

Even though I knew I was getting tired after having sugar, I couldn't stop. Each day I tried to resist an afternoon fix.

Each day I failed and felt guilty, vowing tomorrow would be different. It wasn't.

Then I heard Sarah Wilson talking about her ebook, I Quit Sugar.

She described how quitting sugar had changed her life. If I needed a push, this was it. Surprisingly, with plenty of approved (and infinitely more satisfying) non-sugar snacks on hand, giving up sugar wasn't so hard. I'm still amazed how little I miss it.

Wilson has an eight-week quit plan. Importantly, it's not a diet. Rather, it simply cuts out processed foods that almost always contain added sugar.

There are no limits to how much I can eat but, interestingly, after getting the sugar cravings under control, I'm not eating as much as I used to.

Initially, it's about cutting back on sugar and doing swaps - instead of honey on toast, it's Vegemite and avocado; a poached egg replaces cereal; a cheese platter in lieu of dessert. I started snacking on toasted coconut flakes, homemade cheese biscuits, nuts, seeds, popcorn and cinnamon-dusted roast sweet potato.

Preparation is the key, and taking the time to ensure you have good food at the ready.

For a few weeks there, I gave up fruit entirely to "recalibrate" my system and eradicate the cravings and swings.

Wilson says all fresh and dried fruit should be cut out from weeks three to six before being gradually reintroduced. How sweet fruit tasted when I had it again - and even now, it's much more of a treat.

What about wine? Well, from a sugar perspective, alcohol is fine to drink in moderation.

Wine (the drier the better), beer and pure spirits contain very little fructose. Fortified and dessert wines, however, are full of it, so are best avoided.

I'd have to say quitting sugar was not as difficult as I imagined. By far the hardest part was making the commitment to do it.

There have been side-effects - a few days of headaches, dizziness, mild nausea - but they're a small price to pay.

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Comments on this story

Reality Check of The Real World! Posted at 8:51 AM October 13, 2013

Is the addiction sugar per say or just food that tastes nice? This article says fat can be addictive too
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-02/fatty-foods-addictive-as-cocaine-in-growing-body-of-science.html
The book 'Sugar Fat Salt:Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us" by Micheal Moss also argues along the same line and goes into the 'science' behind making something taste great AND keep us coming back for more!
Watch out for 'The Bliss Point'.
Every oversimplified message will be countered by the processed food industry - the message should be eat less processed foods - not less fructose, sugar is toxic, ingredient A is bad!
We should have learned our lesson from the 'low-fat' era! Where there's a dollar, there's a way!

David Driscoll of Sydney Posted at 8:13 AM October 13, 2013

While Dr Lustig's theories and evidence may seem convincing to the general public and reporters, the real test is how well he performs with his fellow scientists like at this recent conference!
See http://evolvinghealthscience.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/sugar-showdown-science-responds-to.html
for a full review and links to all lectures.
At the Q and A at the Sugar Symposium (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypWe6npULUQ and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnGhfX2yaU4), Dr Lustig was called out, researchers showing rats liked glucose based carbohydrates over sucrose, and another questioned the applicability of rat research to be extrapolated to humans!
The often misquoted rat studied suggests that it might be the sweet taste and NOT the just sugar/fructose (as they used an artificial sweetener) but many Wilson and Gillespie incorrectly interpret the study and ironically use it to sell glucose/sucrose based dessert recipes! http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0000698
Sugar intakes were high in the first half of the 20th century also, USDA data says over 100g per day - so maybe a threshold has been crossed recently (and made worse by low activity levels?

David M Driscoll of Sydney Posted at 7:56 AM October 13, 2013

The odd thing about the anti-fructose campaigners is how they recommend and sell recipe books with sweet products. Despite their 'distaste' for fructose, no research shows that it has unique affects on appetite nor 'addiction'. (The often misquoted JAMA study from the start of the year showed no changes in satiety, hunger or fullness despite altered brain blood flow).
In fact research DOES suggest that if anything, it is the sweet taste! Thus comparisons to cocaine/alcohol/tobacco in this sense, substituting glucose or other sweeteners for fructose would hardly make a difference. At best it would be a light beer or weaker cigarette if one was to believe these comparisons!
The fact that most people eat too much sugar (especially compared to their activity levels) is pretty much unanimous, the whole 'toxic' thing isn't supported by evidence though. So the likes of Gillespie and Wilson who are recommending glucose/dextrose as a 'healthy sugar' or using other sweeteners, aren't really addressing any potential addictive properties!

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